The Motion of a Rigid Body

Abstract

In the narrow world of the exact sciences there are several kinds of rigid body. There are nuclei, generally not spherical and precessing in the atomic field or some applied field. There are molecules, whose shapes may be very complex, and there are stars and planets interacting through gravitation. In the closely adjacent field of engineering, and especially space engineering, there is an immense variety of oscillating and rotating devices, some of which, such as the gyroscopic stabilizers used on space craft, are extremely sophisticated.